Home Opener is September 6 vs Tennessee Wesleyan
July 2018
DAYTON, Tenn. – On Thursday, the 2018 Bryan College volleyball schedule was released, and it features 11 home matches and 19 contests that will take place on the road. Heading into her third year at the helm of the Bryan College Volleyball program is Head Coach Jessica Day, who will also be serving in her sixth year overall as a part of the Lion’s program after handling her first three seasons as an assistant coach.
Coach Day has played an integral role in some of Bryan’s most outstanding achievements, helping the Lions to their first-ever undefeated conference season and four straight Appalachian Athletic Conference Regular Season Championships.
Last year, Bryan battled for an overall record of 6-22 and AAC mark of 5-12, finishing No. 5 in the competitive North Division of the conference standings. While the Lions have impressed on the court, Coach Day had a notable four players named 2017 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar-Athletes, which recognizes excellence in the classroom by NAIA-member student-athletes. In addition to the scholar-athletes honored, one Lion made the All-AAC Second Team, one landed on the All-Freshman Team, and a remarkable seven members earned a spot on the All-Academic Team.
To open the season, Bryan will travel to Montgomery, Alabama where they will compete in the Faulkner Invitational, hosted by 2017 Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament Runner-Up, Faulkner University. Even though the start times and pairings have not been finalized for the event, the Lions are expected to play a pair of matches on both August 24 and 25.
The only other contests in August for Bryan will be at fellow AAC foe Milligan College’s (Tenn.) Milligan Mountain Madness, which is slated for August 31-September 1 with teams representing the AAC, Rivers States Conference, Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference, and Mid-South Conference. The Lion’s first action of the tournament will be at 6pm on Friday versus the Patriots of the University of the Cumberlands (Ky.), followed by a meeting with University of Pikeville at 8pm. Bryan will pick up where they left off at 9am on Saturday in the facility of Steve Lacy Fieldhouse as they face off with Asbury University (Ky.) and a mid-afternoon matchup with Midway University (Ky.) at 3pm.
The tournaments at Faulkner and Milligan will help prepare the Lions for September 6 at 6:30pm as they play host to neighboring Tennessee Wesleyan University for their home and conference opener.
The Lions will have home-court advantage in six of the nine conference matches that occur during the month of September. The first time of the year that Bryan will be away during a conference bout is on September 14 at 6:30pm when they go head-to-head with the Golden Tigers at Brenau University (Ga.).
The only other two non-conference matches for the Lions will be at home against first-year program Piedmont International University (N.C.) on September 15 and a battle on September 25 with a Martin Methodist College (Tenn.) team that is coming off a record-breaking season for their program.
October starts with a trip to Tennessee Wesleyan University on the 2nd, before Bryan returns home with back-to-back days of action. On October 5 at 6:30pm, the Lions will try to prevent the Skyhawks from Point University (Ga.) soaring, and will look to keep the momentum rolling when they attempt to tackle 2017 AAC Regular Season Champion, Reinhardt University (Ga.) the following day at 11am.
Seven of Bryan’s last eight matches of the season will be on the road, beginning October 12 at Milligan College and ending October 30 at Martin Methodist College. In the middle of the away stretch will be a challenging visit to AAC rival and last year’s Conference Tournament Champion, Union College (Ky.) on Oct. 16 at 6:30pm.
The Lions will close up their regular-season play when they host the Cavaliers of Montreat College (N.C.) on Nov. 1 at 6:30pm.
“We are in a strong conference, and with Reinhardt and Union being the top-2 in the AAC, those will be tough opponents which we’ll need to keep an eye on,” explained Coach Day. “We are hoping to get back to the top of the conference and make to the tournament this year. We have a great incoming class and several returners that will be impact players for us, and we are excited to get the season underway!”
The AAC Preseason Poll for volleyball is expected to be released late July/early August.
For a complete look at the 2018 schedule, click here.
